The Boe surname
In the 2010 U.S. Census, 3,850 people carried this name — #8,556 among all U.S. surnames, about 1 in every 76,300 people counted. That is down 2% from 3,937 in 2000.
What the name means
The meaning of the Boe surname
A surname transferred from the nickname.
Borrowed from Sardinian boe (“ox”), probably a nickname for an imposing person.
From Wiktionary, the free dictionary (en.wiktionary.org) — entry «Boe» (Italian), by Wiktionary contributors · licensed CC BY-SA 4.0 (creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0) · excerpt, lightly adapted.
In France’s civil register
France’s register of deaths holds 469 people named Boe.
12 of them were born outside France. Those born in France came from 51 départements, most often Lot-et-Garonne.
Where it concentrates, on the mapWhere they were born
Fichier des personnes décédées, INSEE — Licence Ouverte 2.0 · deaths recorded in France since 1970, by place of birth.
In Argentina’s national register
At least 45 people named Boe live in Argentina.
RENAPER only publishes a name in a province when more than ten people there share it, so the real number is higher. Most of them live in Buenos Aires Province.
Too few records to say where it concentrates region by region — these are plain counts, not shares.
Where they live today
RENAPER (National Registry of Persons, Argentina), surnames of residents by province, December 2021 — CC BY 4.0.
In the Nordic population registers
4,185 people named Boe are counted in Norway and Sweden.
Sweden’s figure is from 31 December 2022, the last count Statistics Sweden published. Norway publishes only surnames with 200 or more bearers.
Counted, by country
Own calculations based on data from Statistics Sweden (SCB), surnames with at least two bearers, 31 December 2022 — CC BY 4.0 (names with 20 or more bearers shown) · Statistics Norway (SSB, ssb.no), table 12891, 2025 — CC BY 4.0.
In print
Boe in American newspapers,
1903–1922.
Chronicling America, Library of Congress — digitised newspapers in the public domain.
Who carried it
People named Boe,
with a public archive behind them.
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Nils Boe 1913–1992 · judge -
Jason Boe 1929–1990 · politician -
A. Larsen Boe 1842–1916 · photographer
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A. L. Boe 1844– · politician
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Lars W. Boe 1875–1942 · politician
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L. C. Boe 1876–1962 · photographer
Wikidata and Wikimedia Commons (CC0) · 10 lives in all are documented under this name.
Nearby in the index
Surnames next to Boe.
- Bodin 2,129 · U.S. census
- Bodnar 5,502 · U.S. census
- Bodo 636 · U.S. census
- Bodon 307 · U.S. census
- Bodrero 130 · U.S. census
- Body 1,954 · U.S. census
- Boegler 107 · U.S. census
- Boeglin 317 · U.S. census
- Boehler 1,407 · U.S. census
- Boehm 10,730 · U.S. census
- Boehrer 120 · U.S. census
- Boehringer 562 · U.S. census
When the index is not enough
This page says where Boe is.
A volume says what happened to it.
Every page in the index is free and stays free. The Heritage Volume is the long form: the full paper trail, the arms, the crossing — bound, and yours.